Legal Question in Personal Injury in Illinois

They will do this, especially if no agent is involved who can stick up for you, and it is terribly unfortunate, but there is a lot of insurance fraud out there. That's one reason that the "on-line" agencies are cheaper -- you don't get that personal service you're supposed to from a real agent who has a real relationship with you. The problem here is the timing. Hopefully the facts will speak for themselves. The most difficult thing will be for you to keep your cool while their "investigators" try to coax you into saying something stupid. Then again, how much of a "lapse"? A few days, or a few months..... again it's how things "seem". Normally an insurance company will want to make sure they are picking up the renewal date from your last insurance, so you know you have insurance and they know that if it's prior to that date, there was another insurance company. So if you did this all "on line" and didn't dovetail dates through misunderstanding, that may be explainable -- but again . . . Finally, off the top of my head, your prior claims' record may be helpful -- this could help prove you aren't a chronic claimant....which can also be a red flag. But if you're not sure what you should answer, ask them to put everything in writing so you and they have a complete written record of this situation -- you don't need "investigators" saying things later that you didn't quite mean or may have seemed confusing..... And if you're not sure how to respond to a written inquiry, then you may need some real help -- like from a real agent, or an attorney. Good luck.

The response given is not intended to create, nor does it create an ongoing duty to respond to questions. The response does not form an attorney-client relationship, nor is it intended to be anything other than the educated opinion of the author. It should not be relied upon as legal advice. The response given is based upon the limited facts provided by the person asking the question. To the extent additional or different facts exist, the response might possibly change. Attorney is currently licensed to practice law actively only in the State of Illinois, inactively in Florida. Responses are based solely on Illinois law unless stated otherwise.

Read your policy. You probably have a cooperation clause that requires you to provide information and to assist in any investigation.

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